Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
by Gabi-hime
Summary: The third story in the Tears and Rain continuity. Soujiro and Kuri must each find their own paths as they confront a man attempting to rebuild the Juppongatana.


Hello and welcome to the terribly evil teaser for Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head. Raindrops takes place in the Tears and Rain continuity after both Tears and Rain and I'll Do My Crying in the Rain. It also takes place after Company of Wolves, a Saitou centric story that I'm currently working on. It is a major piece and it will resolve many, many things. Currently though I'm in the process of writing Company as well as Always Raining: alternatives, so the main Tears and Rain storyline won't be moving forward for a while. To keep the fans from killing me, I offer this to pacify them. This should show that I have a great deal planned for Raindrops, and that I am working on it. The Saitou story needs to come first though, so Raindrops will make sense. Please bear with me.  
  
The following excerpts are all from Raindrops, although they may or may not be in any particular order. Figure that out for yourselves ^_^ I'm not giving that much of the plot away :D  
  
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it,  
  
Much Love,  
  
Gabi  
  
http://www.seiryuu.org/~pinkfluffy/rurouni/fanfiction/  
  
http://www.pinkfluffy.net  
  
  
  
Wareyaiba is Saitou's own pet name for Soujiro that he developed in Tears and Rain, the first time they met after Soujiro left Shishio's service. It means ''fragile, broken sword'' and is a reference to the title tenken, which means ''heaven's sword'' as I'm sure you all know.  
  
Kato-ko means ''tame rabbit girl'' and is a reference to Kuri's animal type, the rabbit obviously. Kato-ko becomes Kuri's nickname, despite her negative feelings about it ^^;;  
  
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The tall, muscular brown haired man scrutinized her carefully, giving her more than a cursory up and down before leaning casually against one of the posts on the porch. He shoved his hands into his pockets and his eyes narrowed as he chewed thoughtfully on the fishbone. Kuri wondered how long he'd been chewing the thing. It certainly looked the worse for wear. She was thinking about asking him when exactly he'd picked it up but he interrupted her before she could finish her thought.  
  
"So is he still as messed up as he was the last time I saw him?" he was playing with the bone idly with his teeth and tongue, although she could feel his suspicion. What was wrong with him? She hadn't done anything wrong, certainly hadn't done anything to him. Why was he being this way?  
  
She crossed her arms but she kept her expression non-combative. She had no reason to make enemies out of any of these people, and she found herself liking the rough, familiar manners of the street punk, "I can't really say since I don't know how he was the last time you saw him."  
  
Her mind was racing. What was he talking about? Soujiro was not messed up. A little weird sometimes, certainly, and different from most people, but he was definitely not messed up.  
  
The man turned the bone over in his mouth one more time and then spat it out. Well, that answered that question.  
  
His eyebrows were cursorily raised as he spoke, as if he simply did not believe her statement of ignorance concerning the matter, "You know, banging his head on the ground and screaming. Does he still do that?"  
  
Her eyes widened and her breath caught. She searched his face for any signs of bluff or jest but she found none. He seemed perfectly serious.  
  
But that was ludicrous. Soujiro wasn't crazy. Soujiro had never been crazy . . .  
  
*  
  
Kuri grasped the shinai, feeling the grain of the bamboo against her fingers. Here was solid weight. Here was a chance to become something more than she was. There might be hope for her yet. She opened her eyes and then cocked her head to the side.  
  
"Do you really think I can, Kaoru-san?"  
  
The elder girl smiled and Kuri felt warmed by it, "Of course, Kuri-chan. If you put your heart into it and try your best there's nothing that you won't be able to accomplish."  
  
Kuri smiled and then blushed under the praise, "Then I want to, Kaoru-san. I want to try to learn Kamiya Kasshin Ryu."  
  
"I'm proud to have you as our newest student, Kuri-chan," Kaoru nodded matter-of-factly, as she put her hands on her hips, "I'm sure you'll be great!"  
  
The younger boy snickered, "Congratulations, Kato-ko, you're now they third student of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. I'm the first and the other one isn't even in the country any more."  
  
"Ya-hi-ko!" threatened Kaoru, the storm clouds above her head nearly visible.  
  
Yahiko stuck his tongue out at her and then pulled down his lower eyelid, before continuing, "Since you're the newest student of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu then that means you have to learn the first fundamental training technique."  
  
"What's that?" Kuri asked curiously, her eyes wide and bewildered.  
  
"Keeping the dojo floor spotlessly clean," he looked extremely smug, "I'll get the scrub brush and bucket for you. You should go ahead and throw yourself into your first lesson."  
  
Kaoru looked scandalized and then growled at him, "Yahiko-chan, be polite. Kuri-chan may be a student but she's also our guest."  
  
They way she said "guest" left it loaded with a thousand unsaid companion words: fragile, vulnerable, abandoned, left behind, lonely, without a place to go. Kaoru was threatening, "Watch it Yahiko, she's had a rough time," he could see that clearly enough.  
  
He growled back and then muttered something under his breath.  
  
*  
  
"Does not having any technique make me that much of a liability, Saitou- san?'' he seemed amused, a giggle in his soft, feminine voice.  
  
"Ahou, I said that you never learn new tricks, Wareyaiba. You have nothing to fall back on other than your speed and now you can't even fight emotionlessly, as before. You're weak now, Wareyaiba."  
  
"So unlike your incredibly versatile gatoutso, Saitou-san?" he laughed out loud this time, "First stance, second stance, third stance, zero stance, it's all the same, isn't it?"  
  
"Idiot. You know nothing about mental warfare. I'm not surprised you think all the stances are the same."  
  
"Gatoutsu is not a bad concept, Saitou-san, but you really need to explore it," Soujiro smiled serenely, "You underestimate what it can do and you limit it."  
  
The bony, dangerous policeman crossed his arms and looked unperturbed, "I suppose you'll be giving me lessons."  
  
Soujiro laughed and put his hand behind his head, "If you wish, Saitou- san," his hand dropped over the hilt of his katana.  
  
"Then come, if you're feeling lucky today, Wareyaiba," he crushed out his cigarette against the wall and let it drop into the dirt. He didn't bother to assume a defensive stance, he just stood there, watching the younger man.  
  
Soujiro moved in a flash, drawing his katana with his right hand as always, but taking a half step forward, throwing him into an unorthodox but still viable gatoutsu stance instantly. All in the same second Saitou felt a tap on his left shoulder, his right chest, and the center of his forehead, then Soujiro had sheathed his sword again.  
  
Soujiro smiled pleasantly, "Three point attack: head, shoulder, heart."  
  
Saitou's face was unreadable for a moment. This he had seen before, many times. This he had been so familiar with, yet hadn't seen since . . . .  
  
Then he smirked, "That's all you had to show me? Wareyaiba, I've seen that before and it has a fatal flaw. You leave your left side wide open to attack while you use the three point gatoutsu."  
  
"Ah, Saitou-san, that's nothing that speed cannot counter."  
  
"Speed is not everything, Wareyaiba."  
  
Soujiro bent his head in acquiescence then laughed, "But it can be, Saitou- san. It can be."  
  
* 


End file.
